The Mexican college of civil engineers (CICM) has called for the creation of an autonomous body to plan a portfolio of infrastructure projects.

The body, which it is hoped will be set up before 2018, would adopt strategies for developing projects with long-term vision rather than in a single term of government, CICM president Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa was quoted as saying by news agency Notimex.

Authorities should create a data base of infrastructure projects to attract private sector investments, the local construction industry chamber (CMIC) has said.

Mexico's private sector is planning to invest 200bn pesos (US$11bn) to continue the construction of certain infrastructure projects in the light of fiscal budget cuts.

The latest round of cuts to the 2016 budget of the transport ministry will affect 19 road projects. Congress had originally approved a budget of 105bn pesos, down 16.5% from 2015, before slashing it another 12.3bn pesos.​